Source Descriptions

The guzheng is frustratingly hard to learn about if you only speak English. Most English web results are copies of older versions of English Wikipedia's article, are promotional in nature, or are so specific they leave out great information. Non-web sources are frustratingly superficial, a challenge to find, and/or confounded by translation and language issues. Hence, this website.

The shining exception to this problem is the best English-Language resource that is freely available: "The emergence of the Chinese zheng : traditional context, contemporary evolution, and cultural identity" a PhD thesis by Dr. Mei Han written in 2013 for the University of British Columbia. The author, Dr. Han (韓梅) (personal site) is an accomplished performer, skilled researcher, and certainly not the least importantly for the sake of this project, fluent in both English and Chinese. Her thesis is based on her original research, interviews with informed people in the zheng world, and her translations from Chinese-language sources. Her expertise has been recognized by the editors of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicianswho asked her to write the entry on the guzheng. I consider her the gold standard of English-Language guzheng resources.

Before we get into some summaries, check out how some of these sources have impacted each other over time. Some bodies of work are cited by almost everyone: Tsai-Ping Liang, Cao Zheng, and Te-Yuan Cheng have bodies of work that appear in most every source I reference. Their perspectives continue to have direct and indirect influence.

Others, such as my beloved Ferguson, Kwok, and Kao, haven't been cited by the later works I've so far compiled. While they contribute their knowledge, I believe they haven't been assimilated into the general body of guzheng information.

Chen, Cheng, and Han, on the other hand, continue to push forward. While this diagram ends with Han 2013, her paper's statistics show 3300 downloads since publication, with 2000 downloads heading to Beijing in 2016 and 2017. That, to me, says her work is being actively considered.

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Depiction of thought leader's influence. Created by author.

I made this to help us keep in mind: If all the sources cite the works of Te-Yuan Cheng, how much of his perspective is simply repeated, and how much is challenged and enhanced? It would be wonderful to make a larger diagram with the many, many non-English sources, but current logistics prevent me from doing so. Email me if you are up to the challenge.

On to the Sources:

Below are noteworthy sources I've read and summarized. Researched sources you can view online, printed sources you have to buy or borrow, and websites are sorted out. Citations for these and all other sources are available on the Bibliography and Further Reading pages.

Professional, Free, and Electronic:

1996: "Guqin and Guzheng: the historical and contemporary development of two Chinese musical instruments" Master's thesis, Gaywood, Harriet Rosemary Ann (1996) Durham University.An accessible introduction to the topic and the first I read, Gaywood is unfortunately plagued with issues. Its limited array of citations suggests uneven coverage of the topic, its coverage of both the qin and guzheng lead to some confusion, it summarizes to the point of missing information, and some statements on times and locations appear incorrect when compared to other sources. Finally, its use of hand-written Chinese characters rather than typed ones makes it harder to cross reference translations and sources. We can only do our best with what we have, but in this case I'm afraid the restrictions proved too much.

2000: "Music in the Age of Confucius" Chapter 3: Strings, by Bo Lawergren (Pages 80-83). Published by the Smithsonian Institute in the United States.An excellent look at the origins of the instrument alongside discussions of the se and qin. It does not discuss any modern changes to the instrument.

2003: "The Development of the Modern Zheng in Taiwan and Singapore" PhD Thesis, Kao, Shu Hui Daphne, (2003) Durham UniversityInformative comparison of musical styles of the guzheng and how they have changed in mainland China, Taiwan, and Singapore. Also contains an excellent appendix featuring english-language descriptions of fingering techniques and an annotated diagram of the parts of a guzheng in Chinese and English.

2013: "The Emergence of the Chinese Zheng : Traditional Context, Contemporary Evolution, and Cultural Identity" a PhD thesis by Mei Han written in 2013 for the University of British Columbia. The single best, most comprehensive free source on history and development of the guzheng. If you can bring yourself to read no others, read this. The only drawback is the file embedded Chinese characters with a font rather than using unicode, so Chinese text can't be copied for quick lookup, translation, and pronunciation. But! That's a small complaint arrayed against the massive undertaking and depth of information. This expands upon and generally eclipses her earlier Master's thesis, "Historical and Contemporary Development of the Chinese Zheng", 2001, University of British Columbia.

2014: "Extending the sound of the Guzheng", a research thesis for an MA from the University of York, by Jingsi ShiA technical look at how software and electronics can recreate and manipulate the sounds of the guzheng. The first 12 pages provide a succinct timeline of the instrument's evolution through the Qing dynasty and the manner of its sound production. The paper also covers adding microphones to a guzheng for recording.

Archive of the Chinese News Analysis, 1953-1998, as hosted by Ladanyi Verein. Comes as software and CD download for Windows operating systems. Individual disks (~400MB each) can be downloaded as zip files and contain pdf files of issues. The software offers extra search capabilities. It's work like this that allows people to learn about the world in ways they couldn't otherwise. The Internet Archive estimates that the vast majority of the 20th century's books are NOT online. As print materials become harder and harder to access, projects like this one become harder to accomplish. I hope more organizations and individuals invest the effort to digitize and index old records.

Specifically: Issue 381, July 21, 1961.

Printed, visit a library(!!) or purchase them:

1979: "Modern Performance Techniques for the Chinese Zither Cheng" by Daniel Lee Ferguson, a Master's thesis for the University of California Los Angeles.A fantastic read. The now Dr. Ferguson goes into depth discussing the history and morphological changes of the instrument before getting super detailed into fingering techniques. It contains what remains the most comprehensive collection and description of fingering techniques as I have yet encountered. Kao 2003 is a close second in this regard."Cheng" is not a typo; Ferguson uses the Yale Romanization system, which has since been eclipsed by Pinyin. Out of print; you must visit one of the three university libraries or request it.

1987: "Zheng: A Chinese Zither and Its Music" by Theodore Jen Kwok, a dissertation for the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. Oh my goodness this. I need to write this author a thank you letter. Continues documentation about the construction of a guzheng. Prime material for the building your own page.

1991: "Zheng : tradition and change" by Deyuan Zheng (Or Te-yuan Cheng), PhD Dissertation for the University of MarylandAn incredible work. It vies with Mei Han's 2013 dissertation for title of "best" resource save for a few issues. First the great: A clear timeline of changes to the instrument paired with diagrams and photographs of past instruments that I have not seen anywhere else blew me away. Then Cheng got into the actual construction and physical-acoustic function of the instrument and I was smitten. There are a few issues. First, the thesis is hard to find. No slight on the author, just unfortunate circumstances. I know of only 13 copies around the world. Second, there are almost no Chinese characters in the work which makes cross referencing information difficult, especially as Cheng chose to use multiple forms of romanization when relating Chinese names and terms. Third, Chinese sources are shown only with translated english titles making them very difficult to look up.

In terms of content there are two major issues: One, little acknowledgement is given to the idea reported in other sources that "zheng" was a term used for multiple instruments. This raises concerns about the clarity Cheng relates the instrument's history. Is he oversimplifying or does he have firmer sources than others? I don't know enough to determine either way. Two, His description of the interruption of musical education and how it disrupted and redefined what was 'traditional' was off-puttingly positive. Unknown amounts of information was lost; I would have expected some recognition of that fact. All that said: This is a must read if you can get your hands on a copy. The title links to the World Cat listing so you can see where your nearest library copy is.

1991: "The Zheng: A Chinese Instrument and Its Music" by Yan-Zhi Chen, PhD Thesis for Brown University

2002: "An Introduction to the guzheng" Volume One-Four, by Angela Jui Lee and Mark GreshamA succinct guide that explains the basics of history, instrument anatomy, and playing techniques. The history and instrument anatomy are only in volume one. All four volumes are filled with practices, songs, and descriptions of techniques. Generally gave a very welcoming vibe. Volume one has great, clear diagrams. Available from the publisher for less than $15 per volume, around $48 for the set.

Websites:

ChineseZither.net https://www.chinesezither.net/ and Guzhengfoum.com A valuable resource and store maintained by Carol Chang, these have provided the most in-depth discussion of guzheng wood sourcing I have found anywhere - and kept a vibrant online community bubbling with questions, answers, and new information. There is a commercial interest in this, of course; she sells instruments and I've purchased one from her.

"Silk Qin", http://www.silkqin.com/ by John ThompsonJohn Thompson has devoted his life to studying and reviving the qin through its original Chinese. This man is a legend. His website focuses on the qin but includes mentions of the zheng when their origin stories intersect. His command of Chinese and significant efforts give him a greater understanding of historical records than most others.

"Zheng Art", http://hkzhengart.com/When I found this site I shouted with excitement. They have beautiful, detailed images of a variety of zhengs from throughout the ages. It's very much about the beauty of the instrument. Sometimes that means photographs of functional aspects of instruments are not as clear as I wish they were, but what can you do. The company was established in 2012 specifically to showcase the instrument. From what I understand they have a physical location where you can go and visit some of these instruments, so if you're in Hong Kong, check them out!

"Timeline of Chinese History and Dynasties" http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/timelines/china_timeline.htm Asia for Educators, University of ColumbiaA quick reference for different dynasties with some context. It's important to remember that all of what is now China was not simply passed from ruler to ruler. Borders shifted, and different groups held power over different regions at different times.

Museum Databases:

"Carmentis" http://www.carmentis.be/ Royal Museum of Art and HistoryCatalogue of holdings at several museums, including the Brussels Musical Instrument Museum

"Music Instrument Museums Online" (MIMO) http://www.mimo-db.eu/ EU-funded enterprise"consortium of some of Europe’s most important musical instruments museums". Overlaps with Carmentis

"Europeana Collections" http://www.europeana.eu/portal/en The Europeana FoundationLarge constellation of European institutions providing their collections for digitization and distribution

A Note on Copyright and Fair Use

It was my dream to have this website filled with rich, exclusively licensed content on every aspect of the zheng. But several weeks in I realized, unfortunately, that contacting and communicating with some rights holders would take a great deal of time and effort. While those I did contact gave unanimous permission, it became apparent that all my searching and finding was becoming an unsustainable burden. Thankfully, I learned about Fair Use.

Most countries including the US and China have exemptions for information that is used to enhance the public good and does not damage the original rights holder. This is generally called "Fair Use". Use without permission can be considered fair use if it does not damage the normal use of the original work, does not damage the interests of others, is an action that is demonstrably for the public good, such as education, and is built upon and improved.

Copyright law is tricky, of course, but there's another positive wrinkle that makes it easier: Facts are not copyrightable. How they are presented certainly can be, but the underlying fact is free to be repeated. As the vast majority of this website is the reporting of facts for informational purposes, most of it it falls clearly within fair use.

But what about images and diagrams? Here's what I came up with:

If the image was tied to a particular individual I asked them for permission. This is a cool project, and I hope others would be excited to see reuse as involvement. So far, everyone I have talked to has agreed!

If the image was tied to an organization I generally did not attempt to ask for reuse permission. That's a time-saving measure for me. In trade I took pains to identify what the impact of my use would have. If it was a promotional photo from a zheng maker? My use and proper attribution could drive more people to their site and thus help their business, so I don't feel bad about the reuse. If an image itself was for sale I didn't use it.

Lastly but most importantly: regardless of how I came to the images I have cited their source (plagiarism is bad people), used lower-resolution and compressed images than what was available online, and have attempted to link to the origin of each image. All that said: if you recognize an image and can point me to the true original source, I will happily point there. If you see an image you have rights to and want it removed, please contact me.

I am no lawyer, I'm just trying to act in good conscience. If I have misstepped, please inform me and I will correct that mistake. Thanks for reading!

Some Specific Instances:

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Reused digitally under United States Fair Use laws, as specified on their website here. Excerpt: "Provided the source is cited, personal and educational use (as defined by fair use in US copyright law) is permitted."

Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.: Re-used digitally under United States Fair Use laws, as specified on their website here. Excerpt: "The Smithsonian welcomes you to make fair use of the Content as defined by copyright law."

FlickrImages: used under the various Creative Commons Licenses listed under the images at the time of access. I also contacted each photographer and received explicit permission for this use.